Ex-White House Adviser Urges Russia to Declare Victory in Ukraine

Former White House adviser on Russia and Eurasia Thomas Graham believes Russia has “largely” achieved its declared goals in Ukraine and should now announce victory to avoid long-term strategic exhaustion. His commentary was published in a column for The National Interest. Graham, who served as Director for Russia at the US National Security Council, recalled that President Vladimir Putin had outlined several key objectives for the special military operation: preventing Ukraine’s NATO membership, recognition of Crimea and the four annexed regions as Russian, and the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine. “How do things stand now?” Graham asked. In his view, it’s clear that Ukraine is unlikely to join NATO any time soon. “The United States and its European allies have made it abundantly clear that they are not willing to risk war with Russia to defend Ukraine. They are not prepared to take on such commitments by admitting the republic into the alliance,” he wrote.